Monday, October 8, 2012


DAISY SNELLGROVE TUCKER - OBITUARY 

COLUMBUS, GA. -- Daisy Snellgrove Tucker, age 96, resident of Columbus, Ga., died on Tuesday, May 19, 2009, at her residence. Memorial services will be 11 a.m. today, May 22, 2009, at First Baptist Church with Reverend (Dr.) Jimmy Elder officiating and Striffler-Hamby Mortuary of Columbus, Ga. directing. Private interment will be held at Parkhill Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall after the funeral service.

Mrs. Tucker was born December 11, 1912, in Pinckard, Alabama, daughter of the late Jessie Frances Bryant Snellgrove and LaFayette Snellgrove. She was the widow of William Clifford Tucker, Sr., editor of the Columbus Enquirer, who died in 1961. Mrs. Tucker graduated with honors from Columbus Industrial High School in 1931. Upon graduation, she entered the Columbus City Hospital School of Nursing, and later served as night supervisor of the Emergency Room. She was also a Red Cross Nurse working in the Blood Bank during World War II.

In 1952, she accepted a position as Chief Librarian and Head of Research for the Ledger-Enquirer newspapers and attended special courses on library systems in newspapers workshops in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Toronto. She became a member of the Special Libraries Association and made presentations in Pittsburgh on techniques of newspaper research. Upon retirement in 1975, she acted as consultant for the Knight-Ridder newspapers in Lexington, Kentucky; Pasadena, California; and Gary, Indiana. During the 1950s, Mrs. Tucker enrolled in the University of Georgia Off-campus System in Columbus and took courses until the 1970s at what eventually became Columbus State University. In 1958 she became a member of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce Education Committee. She, as well as her husband, W.C. Tucker, Sr., for whom the university's Tucker Building was named, strongly supported the establishment of the university.

At this time, Mrs. Tucker also wrote a series of articles on mental health published in The Enquirer titled "Minds in Darkness." The series was distributed in booklet form to the Muscogee County Schools and, as a result, Mrs. Tucker became the recipient of the Cup of Hope Award in 1958, given each year by the Georgia Mental Health Association to one who has worked to improve the condition of the emotionally disturbed and mentally ill. This series along with the editorial support by the newspaper resulted in The Enquirer's winning the Bell Award given by the National Institute of Mental Health, the first time the award had ever been won by a newspaper in the South. As a result of this pioneering research, Mrs. Tucker was appointed by Governor George Vandiver in 1959 to a newly formed committee on mental institutions. The purpose of the committee was to inspect state hospitals and to recommend needed changes. She also served as president of the Muscogee Mental Health Association and Director of the Georgia State Mental Health Association and the Muscogee County Red Cross.

During her years as newspaper librarian, Mrs. Tucker edited a book review section, as well as a Civil War page featuring stories from 1861-1865. Mrs. Tucker also wrote a weekly humor column for The Enquirer and contributed stories to the Ledger-Enquirer Sunday MagazineMrs. Tucker was a member of the George Walton Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the First Baptist Church of Columbus where she taught Sunday School for over 40 years. She was also a former member of the Wynnton Study Club. She was listed in Who's Who of American Women in 1965 and in Who's Who in the South and Southwest in 1967.

Survivors include her daughter, Frances Tucker of Tuscaloosa, Alabama; her son, William Clifford Tucker, Jr., of Columbus, Ga.; granddaughter, Rachel Dobson of Tuscaloosa; and grandsons, David Eugene Dobson of San Francisco, Calif. and William Tucker Dobson of Fairhope, Alabama and his wife Terry; a great-granddaughter, Rachel Lee Dobson; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to First Baptist Church, Columbus State University, Columbus Hospice, St. Luke Methodist Church Respite Care, and Alzheimer's Association, Georgia Chapter.

(Written by Daisy S. Tucker, Frances Tucker, and W. Cliff Tucker Jr.)

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